Apparatus for sealing cans and the like



May 2, 1944. y

L. E. DAVIES APPARATUS FOR SEALING cANs AND THE LIKE Filed April 21, 1938 3 Sheets-Sheet l May 2, 1944 L. E. DAvn-:s

APPARATUS FOR SEALINCT CANS AND LIKE 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed April 2l, 1938 E JTO@ 6 w L. E. DAVIES APPARATUS FOR SEALING CANS AND THE LIKE Mayz, 1944.

's sneek-sheet s Filed April 2l, 1958 www@ bodies; I Fig. 3 is adetail/ on a still larger scale serving to Patented May 2, 1944 -Cap Company,

Delaware Chicago, Ill., a corporation of Application Apr'nzi, 193s, serial No. 203,425` 1 claims. (013'113-27) This invention relates 'to improvements 4in apparatus for the hermetic sealing oi' containers ot various sorts, particularly metalliccans of the kinds generally used for the preservative packaging ofioodstuifs and the like.

It has long beenrecognized as desirable -in the commercial canning of vegetables, fruits, meat products, and the like, to obtain within the sealed package a sub-atmospheric pressure. One of the important purposesA which this serves is that of affording means'for ascertaining Whether or not y the package is sealed or closed air tight when it is inspected at the Cannery, and thereafter to afford an indication in case fermentation takesg place within the sealed package. v

A particular object of the invention is the provision ofl a mechanism whereby closures may be applied to containers of various sorts with accuracy and certainty incident to the uninterrupted progressive movement of the ycontainers past' the vclosure-applying station with great rapidity.

Another object of the invention is the provision, o f improved apparatus for rapidly. feeding and applying a series or succession of closure caps, tops or heads to a series of containers.

Yet another object is the provision of improve-A ments in apparatus for applying closures topacking vessels'.

Other and further objects of the' invention will be pointed out or indicated hereinafter, or win be apparent to one skilled in the art from the ensuing explanation or from actual use of the invention in practice.

For the purpose of aiding in an explanation of 'the invention, I showin the accompanying drawings forming a part of this speciiication, and

hereinafter described, certain apparatusl and de.

vices serving to `exemplify embodiments and prac# tice of the invention. It is to be understood, however, that these are Ypresented merely by way oi' illustration, and hence are not to be construed in any fashion for the purpose' of limiting the appende'd claimsshort of the true and most com 4 prehensiv'e scope ofthe invention inthe art. In'said drawings. Fig. 1 is a longitudinal sectional elevation of a machine for applying and hermetically sealing heads on metallic cans of conventional type and effecting evacuation 'of air from same; 'v Fig. 2 "is a section similar to Fig. 1 but showing `only a portion of the machine, on a larger scale. and serving to illustrate certain details of the mechanism for feeding the can heads'to the illustrate the relationship of the can body to the head at the time of rst contact:

s Fig. 4 is a top view, taken on line 4 4 of Fig. 1, showing the head feed and applying mechanism, some ofthe parts being broken away;

Fig. 5 is a detail serving to show the relationship of the can body and head at a time in the course of the application of the head to the b ody subsequent, to that illustrated in Fig. 3;

Fig. 6 serves to illustrate the relative position of can head and body at an ensuing time. The improvements in apparatus constituting my invention consist in various new constructions and organizations of elements and parts which can be explained more quickly and clearly by reference in detail to the accompanying drawings than by a general description.

T he machine shown in Fig. lis, in general, of

'the type forming the subject matter of U. S. Letters Patent Nos. 1,920,539 and 2,041,891, granted to White Cap Company, the assignee of this present invention. It comprises a housing 20 having side walls 2 l which extend downwardly at opposite sides of a traveling conveyor 22 which, by means of appropriate mechanism, is moved in the direction indicated by the feathered arrow, so that 4it travels through the tunnel-like enclosure formed by the housing. Disposed within and journaled on the housing are a main sheave 24 and, at opposite sides of the conveyor 22, various guide sheaves 25, 26, 21, 28 and 29, and on these, sheaves'are entrained lateral holding belts 30, one at each side of the housing, which are guided by the sheaves 25, 26 and 2lin such relationship that they Jut over the conveyor in the distance between the sheaves 25 and 21. g

Within the portion of. the housing adjacent its entry end (viz., the lefthand end ,of Fig. l) is disposed a `steam distributor 3|, which is a hollow. "casing into which hot dry steam is supplied through an inlet 3io (see Fig. 2), said casing having a bottom wa11 Sib overlying the conveyor 22. This steam. distributor forms part of the subject matter 0f U. S. Letters Patent N0. 2,107,237,

-granted'February 1, 1938, to my assignee, White Cap Company, and is therein described in furtherdetail. Part of the hot steam which is supplied to' the steam distributor Il is emitted within the housing through the outlet.3|c, so that a blanket oi hot vapor is maintained below the wall IIb and forwardly therefrom. The wal1-3lb is maintained at high temperature by thehotsteam which is supplied to the steam distributor,

distributors top wall 32.

Adjacent oppositesides or the top wall 32 are upstanding guide bars 33 See Fig. 4), and restasisalsothe ing on these and spaced upwardly from but parallel to the wall 32. is a head holder comprising a plate 34 which is adlustably held in position by'means of cap screws 35 seated in the side frames of the distributor casing, and which carries four guide posts 36 disposed equidistantly around a circular aperture 34a in saidplate. The diameter of said aperture, 34a is slightly less than the distance between apair of parallel slide bars 31 which travel alongside the guide bars 33 in the space between the plate 34 and the wall 32, said slide bars being carried on a yoke 38 and held in parallel relationship by a strut 35i` and running between rollers'40 on the plate 34 and rollers 4| on the steam distributor casing. The slide bars 31 carry a pair of lower pallets 42 and a pair of upper pallets 44, which extend inwardly beyond the lperiphery of the aperture 34a. The upper pallets 44 are rspaced above the lower pallets 42 a distance equal to the thickness of a can head (see Fig. 2). The slide bars are normally held in the elevated or retracted position, illustrated'jn Figs. 2 and 4, by a spring 45, and when in said position, the lower pallets 42 are within the area of the aperture 34a (but below the plate 34) and the upper pallets 44 are retractedto a position clear of said aperture. The yoke 38 is connected to the movable core 46 of a solenoid 41 by means of a. thrust rod 48, lever-48, and link 50, and when the coil of the solenoid 41 is ener;

. gized, the core 46 is drawn upwardly, the lever lower pallets 42 are removed from below the area of the aperture 34a,`whi1ethe upper pallets 44 are moved to a position below the area of said aperture. A stack of can heads H being disposed between the posts 36, by which they are guided so as to move into the aperture 34a by influence of gravity, and with the lowermost head resting on thepallets 42, forward movement of the slide bars 31 will operate to withdraw the pallets 42 from below the lowermost can head of the stack and at the same time intrude the upper pallets 44 between it and the next higher canhead. Accordingly, when the lower pallets 42 are suiciently withdrawn, the lowermostoan head will drop downwardly from the aperture 34a onto a pair of parallel, slightly elevated ridges 32a which are formed on the wally 32 and form a sloping track on which the can head so released slides downwardly. At this time the'remainder of the stack is supportedon the upper pallets 44, and remains so supported Auntil the slide bars 31 are retracted by spring 45 to withdraw those pallets from below the stack, whereupon the stack feeds downwardly until the lowermostcan head comes to rest upon the lower pallets 42.-

At the lower end of the wall 32, which forms the slideway or trackway for the can '.heads, are 1 carried a pair of stop members which project upwardly from the trackway'andfare spaced apart a distance slightly less thanvthe full diameter of a can head -so that a canfhead which has slid down the slideway is arrested by said stops-in approximately the position designated by the 'dotted circle H' in Fig. 4;-l in this position the rearward portion of the can head is still supported on the slideway 32 but its forward portion extends downwardly and forwardly beyond the lower terminus of said slideway, as seen in Figs. 2 and 4. In said position, the forward porcan head is at an elevation below the bottom wall 3|b of the steam distributor. Mounted at the sides of the wall 32 are a pair of light leaf springs 52 which may be flexed upwardly and downwardly, and at its lower end each of these springs carries a detent member 54, which is positioned slightly rearwardly from the associated stop 5| and juts over the .pathway of the can head, which pathway at this point is bounded by guide strips 55, that are in alignment with the slide bars 31. These detent members 54 keep the can head from jumping over the stops 5| until it is properly withdrawn.

- Below or forwardly from the stack plate 34, a bridge member 56 extends across and in spaced relationship to the slideway,4 being connected at its opposite sides tothe spacer rails 33. This bridge member carries a forwardlyand downwardly extending bracket 51, and straddling this extension are the legs of a bifurcated yoke 58 which are' pivoted on a pintle 59 that is seated in the extension 51. Straddling the legs of the yoke 58 are the legs of a second bifurcated yoke 66, which legs are also journaled on the pintle 58. A stop pin-6| forms a restl for said yokes when they are in their lowermost positions, and the yoke 68 is urged downwardly by a leaf spring 62. Hereinafter the yoke 58 will be referred to as the rearward yoke and the yoke 60 as the forward yoke. These yokes may swing on their common pintle independently of each other, and at their forward or lower ends they carry rollers 64 and 65 respectively. These rollers are long enough -to span a substantial portion ofthe width of the can head and their disposal is such that they are below the forward end of the slideway and beyond the stops 5|, the rearward roller being so located that when its yoke is supported on the pin 6|, its periphery will be approximately .tangent to the sloping plane of the upper surface of the rim of the can head which rests upon the slideway and at a distance forwardly from the stops 5| such that it lies above the upper surface of the rim portion of the can head which is in engagement with the stops 5|. The forward roller occupies a position somewhat in advance of the roller 64 with the low point of its periphery at an elevation above the conveyor 22 somewhat less than the combined height of a can body with a. head resting thereon.

Forwardly beyond the roller 65 is theliead pressing mechanism, shown in side elevation in Fig. 1. It is, in general, of the type illustrated in the above mentioned Patent No. 2,041,891. It includes the main sheave 24, which is carried on the actuating shaft 18, and a broad endless belt 1| which is entrained on said sheave 24 and on a rear sheave 12 which is located so thatvsaid belt passes in close proximity to the arc in which the forward roller 65 swings. .The bottom flight of the belt 1| is guided and held down by a divided shoe, or pair of shoes, comprising a rear section 14 and a forward section 15, carried respectively on brackets 82 and 11. By suitable driving conection.to shaft 10, sheave 24 is rotated in the direction indicated by its arrow to move the belt 1| at the same linear speed as the conveyor 22. The lower ight of the belt 1| is guided by the shoes so that its under surface is maintained at properdistance or distances from the conveyor 22 toveffect the proper seating-of the can head, as hereinafter explained.

The apparatus described above is adapted or adaptable for use 'in applying can heads to varition, which is now the lowermost portion, of said u ous kinds of can bodies. It is to be understood.'

however, that by suitable modification in details,l the apparatus may be similarly employed for' the application of closure caps of variousv kinds to other sorts of receptacles.

' 'In applying heads of` the kind above described to can bodies by operation of the apparatus above described, the bodies, suitably filled, are placed in a series on'the conveyor 22, and by said conveyor are carried into the tunnel of the housing 20, the conveyorbeing operated with a continuous movement. The steam distributor 3| is kept .supplied with hot steam, whereby its lower wall SIb i's maintained .at a high temperature, so that the mouth portions of the cans, which travel therebelow, are subjected to radiant heat therel from. Atv the same time, the hot steam emitted through the outlet 3|c displaces air from' beneath the rearward portion of the wall 3|b and keeps the space, through which the mouth portions of the cans travel, filled with an atmosphere of hot vapor which surrounds also the lower end of the runway 32 and the closureapplying instrumentalities associated therewith. Hot steam within the steam distributor 3| maintains the top wall 32 also at high temperature, preventing any condensation of moisture therei As a can progresses in thehusing 20, it passes between the rearward ends of the laterally -disposed belts 30, which belts are guided in converging relationship from the sheaves 28 to the sheaves 21, at which latter point they are sufciently close together to engage opposite sides of the can and hold it securely against shifting or tilting and in properly centered position on the conveyor.A It will be observed that the lower flights ofthe belts 30, which thus grasp the can between them, are elevated but a short distance above the conveyor y22 so that they grasp the can at only a short distance above its bottom, where the body wall is well bracedby the bottom and hence qualified to withstand the lateral pressure of the belts 30 without deformation.

The belts `30 are transmitted at the same rate as the conveyor 22: and, with the conveyor, carry the can past the portion 99a of a. switch lever 99, which portion 93a is normally held slightly in the path of the cans by a` spring 99e. Conse-` quently, when the advancing can strikes the portion 99a, it swings the lever 39 outwardly on its pivot 99h, and by means of a connection 99d closes a switch to the solenoid 41. The solenoid instantly operates the slide bars 31 to deliver the lowermost can head from the stack onto the runway 32 which is at an inclination such' that the head immediately slides downward face |02. However, vthe weight ot the roller il exercises a restraint or braking effect on the' v olf the end of the runway, the head and body are in the proper relative positions such that the centering boss of the head will enter the upper end of the body when the head is instantaneously, snapped down onto the body by the pressure of the rollers 64 and 65.

Incident to the progressive movement of the open 'body through the hot` vapor atmosphere,

the air within the unlled head space of the y body is displaced bythe hot vapor, and likewise, during the movement of the'head down the lower part of the runway and into position on the body, the air has beendisplaced from its lower surfaces and channels by the hot vapor. As a consequence, when/ the head comes to rest on-the ,body asA above described, the head space is lled with hot vaporin place of the air which has been removed. The body with the head thereon is carried forwardly by the conveyor 22 and passes under the pressing belt 1|, whereby the head is pressed down onto the body, thereby forcing the flanges |05 and ||2 closer together and causing the shoulder I to be intruded into the plastic fillet or sealing gasket |01 carried by the head. After passing out of the housing 2| the head may be ailxed to the body by a double seaming operation performed in a can header of conventional type.

What I claim is:

1. In aclosure applying apparatus having a conveyor for moving containers progressively, a runway sloping at an angle such that closures lmay slide down it by gravity and having its lower until arrested by the stops 5| with its forward margin projecting downwardly-and forwardly from the runway and under the roller 64.

The relationship of the head I-I' in reference to the approaching can body B is illustrated in Fig. 3. It will`be observed that the lower termithe rear margin of the hea-d meanwhiley resting.

on the runway 32. As soon as the .margin of the head flange surmounts the upper limits of the stops 5|, the head is free to travel along with the can, which is still pushing against the surend arranged overthe path of the containers, and a non-yielding stop disposed adjacentthe lower end of the runway and projecting upwardly therefrom in position to engage a lateral portion of a closure thereon and detain it stationarily in sloping position with its fforward portion in position to be engaged and lifted by. an advancing container, the height and arrangement of the stop being Sgen as to permit tnfgiateral portion of the closure* to pass over it when the forward portion of the closure is swung upwardly from the runway by the advancing container. l

.2. In a closure applying apparatus having conveyor for'moving containers progressively, a

runway sloping at an angle' such that closures may slide down it by gravity and having its lower ,kend arranged over the path of the containers, a

non-yielding stop disposed' adjacent the lower i end of the runway and extending upwardly therefrom in position to engage a lateral portion of a closure thereon and detain it in sloping position with its forward portion in position to be engaged and lifted by.,I an advancing container'.

A the height and arrangement of the stop being such as to permit the lateral portion of the clo,

sure to pass over Aitwhen the forward portion the closure adjacent the stop to restrain it against being moved over the stop by gravity,

3. In a closure applying apparatus having a conveyor for moving containers progressively, the combination of. a runway along which closures may be fed to a 'position over the path of the containers, lateral guide members associated with said runway to guide closures in their movement thereon, a stop carried by one of said lateral guide members and projecting upwardly from the plane thereof and laterally into the path of the closures thereon, said stop being xed in position to detain a closure on the runway with its forward portion intersecting the pathway of a container therebelow in position to be engaged and swung upwardly by a container advancing in, said pathway, said stop being of height such as to permit the closure to pass over it when the 'forward portion Aof the closure is swung away from the runway by the advancing container.

4.v In closure applying apparatus, in combination, a conveyor for moving containers progressively, a runway along which closures may be fed,

non-yielding stops jutting upwardly from the plane thereof and laterally into the path of closures on said runway and cooperating with the latter 'to sustain a closure stationarily in a sloping position intersecting the path of the containers with its rim in position to be engaged by an advancing container and swung upwardly from the runway sufilciently to surmount said stops and be moved forwardly past the same incident to furtherV progressive movement of the container.

5. In closure applying apparatus, in combination, a conveyor for moving containers progressively, a runway on which a closure may move into proximity to the path of the containers, a

non-yielding stop associated with the runway arily in a sloping position intersecting the path `45 of the containers with its margin in position to be engaged by an advancingl container 'andswun'g upwardly from the runway sulciently to permit its moving forwardly over the stop sovthat the cap may beA withdrawn from the runway upon further advance of the container.

6. In closure applying apparatus, in combination, a conveyor for moving containers progressively, a runway along which closures may be fed, a non-yielding stop cooperating with said.v runway in position to engage a rim portion of a closure thereon at a point above the plane of the runway and to hold the closure in a sloping position intersecting the path of the containers with a portion of the closure in position to be engaged by an advancing container to raise its rim portion sufficiently to ride over the stop incident to further progressive movement of the container, and yieldably mounted means in position to overlap the upper surface of the closure and restrain its rim portion against surmounting the stop until it is forcedupwardly by a moving container.

7. In closure applying apparatus, in combination, a conveyor operable to move a container progressively with its upper end in an approximately horizontal plane, a runway arranged to support a closure stationarily above the path of the container in a sloping plane intersecting said horizontal plane, a non-yielding stop associated with the runway in position positively to engage a lateral portion of the closure at a location above the plane of the runway to limit its movement thereon and locate its forward rim in the path of the container, said stop being located in a position where it will be surmounted by the lateral portion of the closure when the latter is swung upwardly from the runway by the advancing container, and an upwardly lmovable detent spring-pressed to a position to overlap an upper surface of the closure and restrain its lateral portion against surmounting the stop until forced upwardly by an advancing container.A

-LYNN E. DAVIES. 

